Descendants of Timothy Abbey and Betsey Jacox David H
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Descendants of Timothy Abbey and Betsey Jacox David H. Eggler [email protected], August 2020 Parents of Timothy Abbey Timothy’s parents were John Abbey (1769- 1857) and Lydia Wolcott (1771-1837). Town records of Mansfield, Connecticut state that "John Abbe of Mansfield and Lydia Wolcut -- Town of Windham -- were joined in marriage February 3rd AD 1791. Timothy son of John Abbe by Lydia his wife was born October 14th AD 1791." A book compiled by Cleveland Abbe and Josephine Genung Nichols, The Families of Abbe and Abbey (1916, New Haven, Connecticut) traces Abbey ancestry back to the 4th great-grandparents of Timothy: John Abbe (1613-1689), who was born in England and died in Salem, Massachusetts, and his wife Mary Loring (~1617-1772), who was born in England and died in Wenham, Massachusetts. The grandfather of Timothy was John Abbey (1747-1789), who fought in the Revolutionary War. John Abbey and his wife Lydia Wolcott moved from Connecticut to Chenango County, New York, and then were part of an 1815 migration to Norwich Township, McKean, Pennsylvania. Censuses record John Abbey living in Sergeant Township (now part of Norwich Township) in 1820 and 1830 and in Norwich Township in 1840. In 1850 John Abbey, a farmer, lived in Norwich Township with a second wife Amy, 63, born in Connecticut. Lydia had died in 1837. John and Lydia are probably buried in the Norwich Township (Colegrove) Cemetery, but there are no tombstones. In October 1815 fifteen families moved from the Town of Norwich, Chenango County, New York to the wilds of the Potato Creek Valley in Norwich Township (then Sergeant), McKean County, Pennsylvania. Some had first emigrated from Norwich, Connecticut to Norwich, New York. Heads of families that joined the migration were Nathaniel Brewer and his brothers William and Isaac, John Abbey, Rowland Burdick, Isaac Burlingame, Jonathan Colegrove, Jr. and his brothers Park and Benjamin, David Comes, Nathaniel Gallup, Gideon Irons and his son Gideon Irons, Jr., William Smith and his son Eseck, and Timothy Wolcott. The party was led by Jonathan Colegrove, Jr., who helped persuade them to exchange their property in New York for the lands in Pennsylvania. They were led to believe that the area had rich farmland and great mineral wealth. Neither promise turned out to be true, although later oil was discovered in McKean County. The wilderness area had no roads, so they had to ascend Potato Creek, with much labor and expense, in canoes, with their families and goods. To make matters worse, in 1816, a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific caused a darkened sky during the summer, and it snowed in June, freezing the crops. Isaac Burlingame and his father-in-law Timothy Wolcott traveled to Pittsburgh via canoe to bring supplies. A story goes that Seneca Indians were watching with amusement as one of the canoes laden with potatoes spilled in the creek near their home destination. That event gave rise to the name Potato Creek. Timothy Abbey (1791-1868) married Betsey Jacox (also spelled Jaycox, 1792-1851) in ~1810 in South New Berlin, Chenango, New York. Her parents were ‘Deacon’ John Jacox (1770-1857) and Sarah Hazzard (1773-1836), who migrated from Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York to South New Berlin. John Jacox was a farmer and deacon of the First Baptist Church of South New Berlin. Deacon Jacox had a falling-out with his oldest son Edward Hazard Jacox, whereupon Edward left South New Berlin, with his wife Sarah ‘Polly’ Wolcott, to live with his wife’s parents Timothy and Sally Preston Wolcott in McKean County, along with his brother George, his sister Betsey Jacox Abbey, and Betsey’s husband Timothy. Timothy Wolcott and his wife Sally had been among the 1815 migration group, and Timothy Wolcott was one of the two men who traveled to Pittsburgh for supplies. Timothy and Betsey Abbey were not part of the 1815 migration group. Birthplaces of their children indicate that Timothy and Betsey joined his parents in McKean County about 1820. That scenario is consistent with census records. Timothy was enumerated in 1820 in Chenango County, New York but in 1830, 1840, and 1850 in Norwich Township, McKean, Pennsylvania. In 1850, the first year that complete families were listed, Timothy, a farmer, was living with Betsey and children Harry, Sarah, and Mary, along with Nelson Brewer1. “Their farm home was on the brow of the hill, just on the Smethport side of Crosley on the main Smethport-Emporium highway [now West Valley Road], overlooking both Smethport and Crosley.” (obituary of Hazel Abbey) Betsey died in 1851 and rests beneath a prominent tombstone in Norwich Township Cemetery. The Families of Abbe and Abbey says that Timothy “later resided in Berlin, Wisconsin, where he died.” For many years that is all that I knew. I looked in cemetery listings and other records at the Wisconsin State Historical Society in Madison. But eventually I requested, and was sent, a listing from the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Newsletter (v. 46, No. 3, Jan 2000) for the Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery in Berlin. It lists tombstones read in a sequence, part of which is: ABBEY Martha-wife of Timothy-Jan 21, 1875-80 y 10ms 5ds ABBEY _____thy – (top only) LANGWORTHY Martha-Dec 8, 1856-9 ms 18 ds Antoinette-Feb 27, 1885-3ms Children of P.W. and M.E. I was aided in piecing together Timothy’s story by emails and documents from Myreen Smith Schmidt, a descendant of Timothy. We now know that Timothy relocated to Berlin, Green Lake, Wisconsin about 1855. His youngest daughters Emily Cordelia Stickles and Mary Langworthy had joined the Seventh-Day Baptist church in Pennsylvania and then moved with their families to The Seventh-Day community in Wisconsin. It was a small denomination that migrated westward from New England and was established in Berlin in January 1850. The mother of Mary’s husband Peletiah Wellington Langworthy, Martha Mills Langworthy, had lost her husband about 1848. Martha and Timothy were married in Berlin, probably about 1856; Martha had joined the Church in 1855, and Timothy joined in 1856. Church records, kept by the Berlin Historical Society, give his date of death. His fragmental tombstone is next to the well-preserved tombstone of Martha Mills Langworthy Abbey (1794-1875). Harry Abbey, Brother of Timothy Abbey Harry (1795-1857) married Sally Jacox (1802-1872) in 1821 in South New Berlin. Sally was the sister of Betsey Jacox. “He resided, when young, around Burlington, New Berlin, and Norwich, New York, and later in Smethport (McKean County), Pennsylvania.” (Families of Abbe and Abbey) Harry and Sally probably moved from Chenango County to Norwich Township, McKean County, about the same time as Timothy and Betsey. They were original members of the Norwich Baptist Church, which had been organized in 1820. Harry is enumerated in the 1830 census for Keating Township, McKean County, but was not in the county thereafter. In 1850 Harry Abbey, farmer, was a resident of Conneault Township, Erie, Pennsylvania together with wife Sally 48 b. NY and four children. Ages and birthplaces of the children suggest that he moved from Pennsylvania back to New York and then back to Pennsylvania between 1820 and 1830. Harry and Sally are buried in the Girard Cemetery in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Children of Harry and Sally were Susan Delight Abbey (1823-1888), James Jewett Sage Abbey (1827-1902, Antoinette Brown Langworthy), George Griswold Abbey (1832-1911, Mary Ann Moxham), and Sarah Mindwell Abbey (1841-1908, Smith Douglas Sawdey). Antoinette Brown Langworthy was the sister of Peletiah Wellington Langworthy, the first husband of Mary E Abbey, daughter of Timothy and Betsey Abbey. Antoinette was the daughter of Elias Lewis Langworthy, the first husband of Martha Mills Langworthy Abbey. In other words, Harry was the uncle of Mary E Abbey and the brother-in-law of Betsey Jacox Abbey,. The tombstone of Harry Abbey, as noted above, is in Girard Cemetery, Erie County. Yet there is a tombstone near that of Betsey Abbey in Norwich Township Cemetery that reads “H Abbey,” with a medallion for the War of 1812. If it is not a tombstone, what is it? The stone is in the style of that erected for Ebenezer Patterson in the same cemetery, another War of 1812 veteran, so perhaps it was thought that Harry was buried there, or perhaps it is just a memorial. A. Lucinda Abbey (~1814-1882), daughter of Timothy Abbey and Betsey Jacox Lucinda was born in New Berlin, Chenango, New York. She married John Dunbar (~1809- ~1867), a laborer and peddler. Both died in Christian Hollow, Norwich Township, which is immediately east of the village of Crosby. A1. Mary Dunbar (1838-1908), daughter of Lucinda and John, married Samuel S Sanford (1832-1901) in 1869. He was a farmer in Shippen Township, Cameron County, and a Civil War veteran. They both died in Shippen Township and are buried in the small Sanford Cemetery in Truman, Cameron County. A2. Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Dunbar (1840-1927) married Lemuel Tracy Sanford (1826-1906) in 1859. Lemuel was a brother of the Samuel Sanford who married Betsy’s sister Mary. He was a farmer in Norwich Township, where both died; both are buried in the Norwich Township Cemetery. A2a. Betsy and Lemuel had one daughter, Cora Lynn Sanford (1866-1932), who married Eardley Burdett Allen (1862-1920). Eardley’s parents were Archable Allen and Catherine Euphemia Grover. He was a farmer in Christian Hollow, Norwich Township. Cora and Eardley are buried in Norwich Township Cemetery. Their children, all sons, and all born in Christian Hollow, were Clayton Burdett Allen (1885-1936, Wilma Raymond and Ina Beldon Varney), Wesley Archibald Allen (1886-1947), and Alvin Arthur Allen (1894-1961).